Bones and Boredom
by knacc
Summary: Gaige knows Zer0's secret but that's not what is bugging her, not really. (aka Gaige is a Necromancer, Zer0 is a powerful undead spirit)


Gaige sits and waits by a dying fire, thinking about all the things that lead her to where she is now. She doesn't regret the arm and all that it entails, not really. Sure it was the reason she could never go home and yeah she'd gotten a lot of dirty looks from townspeople until she'd bought a glove to cover it up but it was all worth it as far as Gaige was concerned. To have such a close connection to death, such a powerful conduit through which to channel the energy needed to cast her spells and to have it attached to her very body, well, she was willing to give up a lot for that.

Gaige looks up from where she was fiddling with a coin, the clicking of metal on her bare bones eerily loud over the crackle of the campfire, her eyes settling on the newly arrived Zer0. He hadn't made a single noise but still she'd known he was there, had felt the twinge of her deathsense as he'd approached. "Back from your dinner run?" she asks.

He visible stiffens, turning away from her before he says, "Just errands. I'll take over the watch."

"Come on," Gaige rolls her eyes, waggling her skeleton hand at him so it clicks and grinds. "You know perfectly well that I know what you are. Aren't you curious why I haven't outed you?"

Zer0 turns back around and in this half light she can almost see his eyes glowing in the depths of his helmet. "I know why. You're curious."

"Eh alright, I'll give you that. My intellectual interest bought you a few minutes. But these people are almost all the family I have in the world and I'm not going to put them in danger just because you're fascinating."

Zer0 is standing on the opposite side of the fire, body coiled like he is ready to spring into the forest at a moments notice. "If you think me safe/ then you're less smart than I thought/ your kind is my prey." His tone is even as ever but she can hear a hint of malice under it.

She suppresses a shudder she'd claim is from the cold and presses on. "I'm not sure I'd use the word 'safe' but you could have killed us all easily the day we met but you didn't. We were totally screwed and you saved us and it makes literally no sense. The dead are predators, like you said, always looking for more life to keep them topside. And with the amount of life energy you could have gotten off of us, let's count 'em:" she extends a finger as she mentions each person, "a teen necromancer, two healthy men, a werewolf and one of the most powerful sirens in the kingdom, you could have had a strong enough hold on life to keep you here for years. But no, instead you saved us and when we asked what you wanted as payment, you only wanted to join our quest. So yeah, I'm curious and my question is: why?"

Zer0 peers back at her from across the fire, expression unreadable as usual since he always wears a helmet. Not that he would necessarily be more readable without the helmet since she has no idea how human his face still is or if he even has skin left at this point. She considers for a moment that he is just a tall skeleton under that tight leather armor and she tries not to laugh at the image. It's impossible anyway, what with the booty he seems to be rocking everytime he squats down.

Finally, Zer0 stops staring and asks, "Can I ask you a question first?"

Gaige looks at him in confusion, "You want to know something about me?" After a second, she shrugs, "Alright, I'm a bit of an open book to be honest so what do you want to know?"

"Why haven't you fixed your arm?"

"Oh this old thing?" she wiggles her fingers at him so the bones grind. "I'm not sure it can be fixed. Maya offered to try but I was a bit worried that the death and life energy might collide and like…explode. And really, it doesn't bother me that much. Sure it's creepy and it has it's downsides but I like the power it gives me." She snaps her fingers and summons her construct, DT with barely even an ounce of her will, then snaps her fingers again and turns him back to dirt and bone ash. "Does that answer your question?"

Zer0 nods for a moment before he says, "I was bored," his head angled towards the ground like he's embarrassed.

Gaige splutters for a moment before breaking out into laughter, her voice much too loud for the middle of the night. She clasps her hand down over her mouth until she can get it under control then says, "Really?" how funny she finds his answer still obvious in her tone.

"Yes," Zer0 snaps, helmet coming up to look at her.

Unphased by his annoyance, she continues to giggle as she says, "So you got sick of your lonely immortal life and decided you wanted to hang around with a bunch of mortal adventurers… for kicks?"

He sighs, his shoulders falling a bit. "Time passes slowly/ when your life has no clear end/ I needed something."

Gaige knows that he really means it, that maybe she of all people shouldn't be laughing at him for being lonely and bored so she reigns in her amusement slightly. "Alright, alright," she smiles, "I believe you."

Zer0 keeps looking at her, tension obvious in his stance.

"And I'm not going to tell anyone your secret," she watches as he relaxes slightly before continuing, "for now. But I'm going to keep my eye on you and if you step one toe out of line, we're going to extensively test my theory about healing magic causing death energy to explode, you hear me?"

Zer0 nods and after a moment adds, "And I will keep an eye on you."

He goes to slip back into the woods and Gaige has a second to wonder if he could possibly be flirting before she pushes the ludicrous thought aside and shouts after him, "Hey, I thought you said you're taking the next watch?"

Zer0 pauses and then slowly turns around, leveling an even stare in her direction. Gaige freezes on the spot for a second but then Zer0 just says, "Fine. Sleep well, Necromancer," And she's almost sure that there's a slight chuckle to his voice as he says it but it's probably just her imagination.


End file.
